Well today is kind of a sad day, it’s the last day of the Roomspirations tour. Although I am excited to head over to Roeshel’s awesome blog and check out all the kitchens that will be linked up. I need some inspiration and I am missing my white kitchen from the Colonial. That was a big project of removing walls, moving the kitchen from one room to another, adding a pantry, mudroom, etc. I am strolling down memory lane on this blog post and I thought I’d share it with you too.
When we first considered buying the Colonial, Mr.A and I made a list of pros and cons of moving and selling our house that we had just built two years earlier. One of the pros we listed on our sheet was NO large projects needed. HA HA! If you know anything about me at all, I love to just dive in to projects, I start projects while my husband is at work and doesn’t know what is going on. (I’ve been trying to work on that by the way).
We moved into the Colonial as I like to call her, On October 1st. We started demolition of the kitchen the weekend of Thanksgiving. Yeah, ummm….I didn’t waste time.
So now here is the real professional part of this blog, my floor plan drawings. They are literally drawings done by me and a black sharpie. Please don’t e-mail me asking for this professional service, it’s a one time deal. Ok, seriously, I didn’t know how else to explain the layout so here it is:
See, I told you it was real professional like. It’s hard to explain to people through pictures what we did but we basically moved the kitchen into this useless funky room that had a fireplace and then we tore out the old kitchen and that’s where our kitchen table, pantry and mudroom are located. We had to move the exterior door, put in a sliding glass door and used our fireplace for our oven.
Here are some before pictures:
That concludes the tour of the kitchen, now we are moving onto the funky/useless room. This picture is taken from the position of the exterior door, facing to your left, the kitchen would be on your right and you can see through the one doorway into the dining room which is brown and blue:
This is the view from the doorway that leads to the dining room, the kitchen is behind the paneled wall.
Now if you aren’t totally confused, here’s one of my favorite pictures, demolition!!! I love using a sledge hammer and destroying things, maybe that’s too much information for you.
Now onto the good stuff!
When designing the kitchen we wanted something that would fit in with the rest of the house. We were going for a more classic feel than a modern one. The subway tile, white cabinets, drawer pulls and hardwood floors gave us the feel we were looking for and we often hear from people, “Wow, this really fits in with the style of your home.” We also really like the layout and are glad we flipped things around. The other kitchen was like the batcave, it was dark, smelly and you really couldn’t hear what else was going on in the house. That wasn’t cool with me.
Some of my favorite things in my kitchen are that my oven is in the fireplace. With little kids running around I never have to worry about them touching a hot oven when I’m trying to open the oven door. I love, love, love my cupboards that have glass doors. My pantry is wonderful and I’m really glad we decided to put one in the kitchen. We have multiple closets in the hallway behind the kitchen that we could have turned into a pantry as well but we decided against that. Thank goodness! I did order a bookshelf type cabinet that was supposed to go on the end of the island but somehow that didn’t get ordered and by the time it was all figured out, everything was installed and done. That is the one thing I wish I had but I can definitely live without it. Also, if you would like to see more of what we’ve done to the Colonial, you can check it out here.
So I thought I’d also share some pictures of the kitchen at the New Place. My ugly oak kitchen will be going buh-bye this winter. I am going to be doing some painting over the oak, just not sure what color yet. There will be no demolition going on here, just working with what we have. Ok well maybe new counter tops and a sink but other than that, really everything else is staying. If I can talk the hubs into it, that is.
This is what the kitchen looks like, well at least what it looked like in the beginning of July. I think we’d been here about a week when I shot these pics quickly to share with some people.
That’s all I have for today, two kitchens, one blog post and the last Roomspiration link party. I’ve had a blast with Roomspiration the past few weeks and I hope you have as well. It’s been fun meeting new bloggers along with seeing new rooms and ideas. Remember the links are open until next Friday so you can still link up. Also don’t forget to revisit some of these great blogs because I’m sure there are some new links since last time you were there.
We would also love any feedback you have with Roomspiration. Should we do it again sometime? Any rooms we didn’t cover this time that you’d like to see next time? Was it too drawn out, not long enough? We all would love to hear your thoughts, ideas and feedback!!!
THANK YOU everyone for linking up. sharing, participating, commenting and supporting this blog party!
And a special thank you to the 11 other beautiful bloggers who I can all call my friends, that joined me for Roompsiration, it’s been a blast working with you all and getting to know you! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!! xoxoxo
Stopping over from the kitchen bloghop! Wow!! I love how you used the brick wall to insert your oven! I love the texture of brick and the "country" feel it gives your kitchen. Good job!! Have enjoyed linking up to a few of the Roomspiration hops!! Have a great day and hope you will stop by That Country Place as well.
Really neat use of the fireplace area.
Oh my gosh that first kitchen was too much! The before and after is incredible! I can't believe you moved after all that blood sweat and tears. Well now I can look forward to see what you do to this kitchen. Thanks for the parties! I'm a new blogger and joined late, but it gave me some goals of what to photograph and post. I think it was spaced out and timed perfectly. A Roomspiration II would be great.
Seeing that kitchen transformation again makes me remember why my jaw dropped open the first time I saw it!!! Ange, you guys truly did such an amazing job on that space and it truly turned out so beautifully. I know once you put your stamp on your new kitchen it will be just as gorgeous!
Vanessa
Wow! With your amazing talent and experience and success – I can't wait to see what you do with the new place!
Ange, thank you so much for sharing your kitchen in my edition of the Roomspiration series today! And thank YOU for inviting me to participate. It's been a blast! I've loved seeing all of the 'real' inspiration and beautiful homes from bloggers who share our love of DIY and decorating!
Ange, your old kitchen transformation was amazing! Can't wait to see the new countertops, sink and painted cabinets in your new kitchen. What colors are you thinking of painting the cabinets?
I absolutely LOVED participating in the Roomspiration Blog Hop this fall. Thank you so much for doing it and giving all of the rest of us the opportunity to link up. I would love it if there was another one in the future!
I think it was great having it spaced out over the course of a month or so. That way we all weren't too overwhelmed getting our rooms/posts ready.
If you are going to do a Roomspiration II {which I certainly hope you do!} you might even consider doing something like 1 room per month over the course of the whole year of 2012 or something like that so people who are still working on getting really large projects done could have more time to get them ready to link up. And it might be less time intensive for those of you in charge too…? I don't know. Just a thought.
But honestly, this was such an amazing idea. You wouldn't have to change a thing! It was SO MUCH FUN to participate and to view everyone else's rooms for inspiration. I got some great ideas and "met" a lot of talented DIY-ers out there.
LOVE it so much!!! I remember seeing this awesome transforming makeover! It reminds me of my house. Don't we have great taste?! lol
I can only imagine how difficult it is to look back through those photos when you invested so much time and energy into the house. However, it should bring you a wonderful sense of accomplishment and success. 
Roomspiration was so much fun! Thank you mucho for allowing me to be a part of it! Hugs and blessings
Hi Ange, what a pretty kitchen you created in your last home. Love the oven with the brick wall! Your new kitchen is the exact layout of mine except we don't have the bump-out where the table is. Our oak cabs were already painted when we moved here last year but I repainted them and really like the outcome. I also removed the doors on the cabinets by the fridge and am really enjoying that space in particular. Here is my kitchen if you want to take a peek! Have a wonderful week! Lisa
I absolutely love your site.. Pleasant colors & theme.
Did you make this website yourself? Please reply back as I’m trying to create my own site and
would like to find out where you got this from or what the theme is named.
Appreciate it!